New EP from The Veldt is a hazy trip through psychedelic indie tones.

 

I despise shoegaze revivalists. It’s not secret and, in the pages of this site, I have recited that hatred repeatedly. Fundamentally, all nugaze music feels like a feeble attempt at capturing the spiritual mysticism and ghostly haziness of psychedelic indie. Of course, these attempts fail.

Yet every once in a while, there comes an artist that hits the mark. The Veldt is the latest outfit to do this, with the release of the duo’s new (and long-windedly titled) EP The Shocking Fuzz Of Your Electric Fur: The Drake Equation. While the title might be initially off-putting, the music certainly is not. Every spaced out note of the release is painstakingly crafted to deliver a flawless blend of psychedelia, indie, chillwave and shoegaze into one relaxingly trippy musical package.

Second track In A Quiet Room best exemplifies this, opening with blistering guitars counteracted by gently plucked indie guitars at the other end. Ghostly vocals soon enter the mix and, while most of the delivery is done to give a feeling of ambience, the chorus is as aurally captivating as it is musically haunting. Yet what really makes the track stand out is the electronic elements pulsing at the heart of it, feeling indebted to Drake in such a way that is distinct from many other artists. While many bands borrow too heavily from indie-rock, The Veldt has taken great influence from hip hop and simply repurposed the sounds into a new feeling.

And feeling is the key word to this release. Every syllable, beat and sound is entrenched in deep emotion that makes the release as a whole significantly more interesting. The basic premise of shoegaze-style music is that it wraps up the listener and they feel the music rather than simply listen and enjoy. The Veldt is aruably the first outfit in a long time to undertand that important element and to actually deliver the capacity for feeling. Particularly with closing track And It’s You, which is a song that slowly saunters into your heart instead of your ears with its spacious guitars and constantly tribal-esque vocal sample hook in the background.

The only potentially offputting aspect of this release is the track length, with no song coming in at less than five minutes long. That might be a lot of listening commitment for the contemporary listener, but those that do invest will reap a glorious pay off. If you are only to listen to one song, make it Sanctified — a track so movingly powerful that it feels more like a spiritual awakening than an opening track.

The Veldt are back.